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♪♪ ♪♪ hi, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york. i'm alicia menendez in for nicolle wallace. we're learning much more in what happened in that devastating truck attack in new orleans that killed 15 people. the sugar bowl that was supposed to take place yesterday is kicking off right now under enhanced security measures, including explosive sniffing dogs like this one. just miles away, the iconic bourbon street, the site of the attack, has now opened. the mayor of new orleans saying this in a press conference this morning. >> i want to reassure the public that the city of new orleans is not only ready for game day today, but we're ready to continue to host large-scale events in our city because we

are built to host at every single turn. >> investigators today providing a wealth of information on the attacker. 42-year-old shamsud-din jabbar. deputy assistant director of the fbi's counterterrorism division telling reporters that jabbar rented the truck on december 30th and drove from houston to new orleans new year's eve posting a series of videos where he proclaimed his support for isis. the fbi adding they believe he acting alone. officials also say that at this time there is no definitive link between the truck attack in new orleans and the tesla cyber truck explosion outside the trump hotel in las vegas. one person was killed inside the vehicle when it burst into flames. officials say he was the one who rented that truck. as for the victims of the bourbon street attack the mayor saying today they were identified adding they mattered

and mattered to the city of new orleans. the victims include this former football player and his coach saying he was a beloved teammate and friend. reggie hunter, who leaves behind two boys, 11 and 1. his cousin saying he was an awesome person and a little guy with a big heart. this woman just graduated high school and set to start college later this mother. her mother said she wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps and become a nurse. 25-year-old matthew tenidorio had the job of his dreams working at the super dome. his family writing, matthew was

always the one to lighten the mood and spread positivity wherever he went. nicole perez was a hard-working single mom who leaves behind a young son. and kareem was a student at the university of alabama. among the victims the 21-year-old louisiana native. his former archbishop saying, quote, we're asking the entire family to pray for his soul, family and friends and all those affected by the tragedy. an interfaith prayer service is scheduled for tonight. we'll be joined by george solis in just a moment. with me at the table nbc news' tom winter.

tom, what's the latest? >> if we spoke yesterday at this time there was a question of whether or not -- are there individuals out there they're looking for. there were people that might have been spotted on surveillance video. now we can clean it. christopher raya, the assistant deputy director of the fbi, he was on vacation when he got called on this. he has a lot of experience in this. he came up through the fbi and was involved in the boston marathon bombing investigation as well. he's very aware of these types of cases. what he's saying at this point is a couple things. the quote is confident. confident that this individual, jabbar, acting alone. second thing he said, he was 100% inspired by isis. that's a quote. it's clear to them at this point that there's not anybody directing him.

there's not anybody helping him. he gets inspired on his own to conduct one of these attacks. to that point, he says, new year's eve day he's on his way from houston to new orleans and starts recording five videos. he talks about killing his family, but he doesn't think the press will give him that much attention. he says, i pledge allegiance to isis. i want this to be big and people to pay attention to this struggle between the west and the middle east. he decided to do something bigger, driving down bourbon street and killing 14 individuals. he leaves a last will and testament in these videos. he picks up the truck on the 30th. he leaves behind three cell phones and two laptops at an airbnb in new orleans. some sort of incendiary device

was set off there to perhaps destroy evidence. they have him planting new bombs. we have new reporting in the last 10 or 15 minutes with my colleague julia ainsley. the bombs found, two functional devices were found in new orleans. they were found wrapped inside coolers with tape. they were galvanized pipe with end caps on them. there were nails inside them as well along with a receiver to receive a remote detonation. the nails are to do what you think, which is cause mass injuries throughout shrapnel. these are the same types of -- i'm not saying he was following the same playbook specifically at least yet, but these are the same types of bombs we saw the marathon bombers use in boston after they set off the pressure cooker bombs. they were found in watertown. they were throwing these bombs.

they're inside pipes they coat with nails. nasty stuff and it's included in terrorism propaganda. i'm sure i'm on some list somewhere. i've got all these documents stored under lock and key in my office. it's all the types of stuff this individual would consume. i think there's a lot more clarity now as to what happened with this particular individual. there's still some searches and law enforcement activity taking place, but obviously now you've seen bourbon street re-open. that's something that counterterrorism officials talked about, limiting the impact of terrorism. do your investigation. make sure those victims are handled. get the evidence you need to do, but at some point get the street re-opened. we're looking at live video of it now. get that street re-opened. get people back to work and enjoying themselves in new orleans, even after this tragedy because then you're able to move

on from these situations and not give the terrorists what they want. >> let's go to george solis, right near bourbon street. give me a sense of the security presence right now. >> reporter: it's very heavy. that's something we heard from officials here. they call it hardening the target. making it difficult for vehicle traffic to get down there. in that live shot, you see the foot traffic starting to fill up bourbon street. we're expecting that street to look more busy at the end of the sugar bowl. this area was never closed down. the hotels were open. some restaurants were still open. fans stuck around even after the tragedy. now that it's re-opened, i took a stroll down there. you're seeing the restaurants and bars filling up. still not what you're used to seeing on any normal day or circumstance. one thing we heard from the

superintendent of police, ann kirkpatrick, they wanted to fortify the sidewalks. making sure it was as safe as possible. they expect that influx of people to start coming down there. you heard from the governor saying it's one of the safest places in the world. that's their commitment to make sure that people feel safe coming back out here. behind me you can see some vehicle traffic starting to more down canal street near bourbon street street. that was not the reality a few hours ago. a vigil is starting to grow. there's other vigils on bourbon street. a lot of people not moving on from what happened here by any sense. a lot of people paying respects. earlier rap legend master p out here on the seen as well, expressing his condolences saying this is what they do. they mourn. they mourn in spirit. they mourn in a celebratory fashion. this town will heal and recover.

i just got down speaking with an eye witness, an iraq war veteran. he said he was hoping to provide first aid for some of the victims. unfortunately it was too late. the idea of coming back is so hard to even fathom for him. he's so angry by what happened, but nevertheless, he knows people in time will be able to heal and resolve what occurred here. again, still very fresh on the minds of many, even though as you start to see some traffic start to pick up here. >> george, we spoke a little less than 24 hours ago. it was a very different scene near bourbon street. i was talking to frank figliuzzi. he pointed out the suspect's age, old, older than you might expect someone to be. the absence at that time of an online footprint. then, of course, the reality that this is someone who served in the u.s. military, deployed

to afghanistan. not the first time you've seen a service member become radicalized. talk us through how that happens. >> alicia, it really is a four or five-step process. how did they get introduced to isis? how did they stumble on to it? second, do they get immersed into it? third, they must be frustrated to the point of them resolving towards violence. that's the key point here. it doesn't seem like this is a life long pursuit of his. if you looked at other videos, he was trying to portray himself as a consultant and real estate businessman. then just a couple years later he's committed to isis and doing this awful attack. what is, you know, really problematic why did he pick this location. it sounds like he picked it because he thought it would be a mass casualty location and it

would get him a lot more media attention. the other part is did he know this location and understand it, how well had he done reconnaissance on it. that's one of the tip-offs you might pick up to go along with that online footprint. in both cases doesn't appear as he was in isis communities of radicalized supporters pushing for violence or contemplating violence. he was not detected by other law enforcement measures. i'm curious about the timeline, the timeline of encountering isis recently all the way to radicalizing to violence. combine that with other things going on in his life, financial problems, marital problems, maybe psychological issues. you can see a dangerous scenario unfold. the only silver lining we got today is that this wasn't part of a larger plot as tom noted. 24 hours ago we were talking about this maybe being part of a

network of isis sympathizers. it's good he acted alone in the sense that they were able to understand that and open the city back up. an important point, every time there's a terrorist attack and isis or al qaeda claims success for an attack whether they know the individual or not, as they change our lives and impact our lives, that creates another effect which is people trying to do copy cat attacks or trying to mirror that. that's what we have to be very cautious about in the next one to two weeks is looking for copy cat attacks, other isis sympathizers, isis-inspired individuals who might want to do a similar attack somewhere around the u.s. or in europe. >> i want to talk about something else, tom. this idea of piecing together a timeline. this is some of what the fbi had to say today about the attacker.

>> jabbar explained he originally planned to harm his family and friends but was concerned the news headlines would not focus on the, quote, war between the believers and the disbelievers, end quote. additionally, he stated he joined isis before this summer. he also provided a will and testament. >> so you've walked us through most of those pieces. the piece i want to underline he states he had joined isis before this summer. was he on law enforcement's radar? >> there's no indication at this time that he was. one question that didn't get asked at the press conference is whether or not there was a previous guardian league for him. that's when the fbi calls the local police department and says, i think alicia is up to something. they're working late night in their garage. all sorts of odd behavior. this is called the guardian

system. they would look into it and say, is there any travel, has anyone reported any issues, what can we look into? we've seen instances where there are terrorists who carried out attacks who are previously known to the fbi and there are guardian leads and the case couldn't go further because of lawful reasons or perhaps there are questions about whether anybody should have done more. that's come up in the past. we haven't heard of that yet in this instance, that there was any guardian lead. his criminal history is fairly negligent. as far as that goes, that's where the investigation is. it's important to remember, if he's not communicating with anybody overseas and there's no effort to gather those

communications or look at those type of communications, or there's not a foreign component, it's difficult to look at somebody here in the united states. we have free speech. you can look at terrorist propaganda materials. i've looked at them. it's part of my job. doesn't mean i've committed a crime. it's a fine line where people trip the wire there. >> let me ask you, george solis, you heard the mayor of new orleans saying she wants the city to continue, george, to be able to host big events. she wants people to feel safe in new orleans. there is, of course, a community that is grieving, a community that never goes back, george, to being normal. what are you hearing from folks about what that process is going to look like? >> reporter: it's going to be a long while. this community has a sense of being able to come back from tragedy. we've seen that before,

especially after hurricane katrina. it is different. this was celebratory in nature marred by violence. one thing you know about new orleans, even as they re-open, you saw a brass band playing here. very celebratory, but respectful to the victims. some people telling me they don't know what comes next, but we know we have to heal from this and come back stronger. we cannot forget the victims, some of them local here, native sons and daughters of louisiana. for them it's very personal. we're going to see a shift, no doubt, in how everyone recuperates from all of this. one thing that's so certain right now as i'm looking around and we see the traffic, the cars, people filling up the iconic restaurants and bars here, this community is resilient and they do plan on coming back. >> george solis, thank you for your reporting. when we come back, another

deadly new year's eve event. police identifying the driver of the tesla truck that exploded outside a hotel in las vegas. plus, president biden meeting with his homeland security team on that car attack las vegas and the attack in new orleans. later, liz cheney and bennie thompson will be honored at the white house by president biden, receiving the highest award a president can grant a civilian. we'll bring you that ceremony when it gets under way when "deadline: white house" continues after this. ouse" continues after this m wherever . e*trade from morgan stanley. power e*trade's easy-to-use tools make complex trading less complicated. custom scans can help you find new trading opportunities, while an earnings tool helps you plan your trades and stay on top of the market.

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this afternoon on the tesla cyber truck explosion that occurred outside trump international hotel in las vegas wednesday morning. law enforcement confirming the suspect who rented the tesla truck is 37-year-old matthew alan livelsberger from colorado. they found his military identification in the truck. two u.s. defense officials telling nbc news livelsberger is active duty military, serving in the army's elite special forces unit. law enforcement revealed they found two firearms in the cyber truck and the body in the truck had a gunshot wound to the head, indicating it was probably a suicide. investigators are confident the body is livelsberger's, but they haven't 100% identified it yet due to the fact that it was

burned beyond recognition. there were questions remaining regarding a connection to the terror attack in new orleans. for right now the fbi says there's no definitive link to the two events. we're back with clint and tom. talk me through what we know, tom, on this question of a possible connection between the two events. >> why don't we get to that first? that's what people care about. were they connected? same car rental company which is like an airbnb for cars. you've got it occurring on the same day, within several hours of each other and this incident occurring after it was public that the new orleans attack happened. you've got somebody who is u.s. army, same type of thing in new orleans with the suspect there. they both were at ft. bragg at some point. it's unclear whether they timeline overlapped. they were at ft. bragg at some point. both served in afghanistan at some point. not clear they were ever in

communication there. unknown if they were at ft. bragg at the same time. did they have any sort of back and forth that occurred? still trying to get into the suspect's phone in las vegas who you identified earlier, matthew alan livelsberger. they believe he's the person in the car. he had some unique tattoos. some they can still see even after the car exploded and had the fire. again, they're still trying to determine that. you showed from the press conference the identification found there. still not 100% clear. >> any kind of motive? >> no motive on livelsberger. there's some things we heard, things out there on the internet. none of that is confirmed. they have to get in those devices. they were conducting a search warrant in colorado springs where he's from. put it altogether you could make an argument, boy, seems like there's a lot of things there. >> which is what the internet is want to do. >> yes, twitter, now x,

certainly there. that doesn't necessarily mean they ever knew each other or were in communication. that's a lot of things there. officials in new orleans and las vegas quick to say, we don't have anything that ties them together, but we're not ruling it out and it's early in the investigation. the timeline they put together in las vegas, also in new orleans, but las vegas is impressive. it's due to the fact he had the cyber truck so he plugs in everywhere from colorado to las vegas. he gets this truck on the 28th. he gets the truck and starts driving it to las vegas. so every time he plugs in, that's generating a record with tesla. they were quite helpful, including the involvement of elon musk in providing information to law enforcement officials in las vegas. so they're able to put this together. the atf, along with the police -- this is all according

to the sheriff. he buys two pistols on the 30th. literally the day before, lawfully buys them, two semi-automatic pistols. according to the coroner, they believe he fired that round prior to the device going off in the vehicle. you might say if he ied of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, how did he set that off? he's 37 years old, a green beret sergeant. he was based in germany on authorized leave. a lot of questions as to how this happened. one of the things that's interesting here, unlike what we saw in new orleans where the fbi says he leaves behind these videos and says he was radicalized prior to the summer and there's indication this has been going on a while, there's no motive or indication right now that the individual in colorado had an issue or motive

going on for an extended period of time. he buys the weapons quick, gets the car quick. was there something more immediate that set him off? a thousand tips plus coming into the fbi. they're working on this. they're doing investigative work overseas and musk has sent representatives from tesla to go out there to see if they can get any data out of that car. this was not a big car bomb. it was never going to do any significant damage to the trump hotel. there's certain things you need to do to set off a car bomb. i'm not going to go into details. this was more set up to be a cannon. we were talking about the technical specifics. that's something we're looking at here, the way this bomb explodes. there's not an indication here to me this was meant to take out this hotel. >> is it the nature of the car or is it the nature of the bomb that the explosion moves directly up? >> a bit of both.

there's nothing containing this within -- normally you want to put a bomb inside of a container -- i won't get into specifics -- to make a blast significant enough. he puts it into the bed of the pick-up truck. there's not a lot of covering back there. that's why it projectiles out. you have rigid sides of that truck, the way it's constructed. that's limiting your damage laterally. there's nowhere for the explosion to go but up. they have a fire sprinkler system at the trump hotel and that puts out a lot of the fire. because it's an ev, they need to take additional steps and they put a blanket over it to suffocate it. >> clint, you have the fbi conducting a search of livelsberger's home in colorado springs. there's something that tom winter said that is sticking with me and i feel we need to talk about it, comparing the

explosive devices and what we saw in new orleans and what we saw a decade ago during the boston marathon bombing. a lot of us feel like time is a flat circle. it is hard to keep track of the contours of the ways in which terrorism has evolved over the course of that decade. the fact that some of these tactics remain very much as they were ten years ago and the fact that there are other elements of this that have evolved. take it in two parts. first, what is it likely the fbi is looking for in colorado springs as it relates to las vegas and the bigger picture today with domestic terrorism? >> alicia, with this case, the law enforcement are doing the search warrant now. they'll be looking for two things. why did he go to this location, the trump hotel with the cyber truck? the second part is why did he do this in general? seems like he committed suicide

in the act of detonating this. the target was himself principally, maybe not trying to kill lots of people. he didn't pick a mass target. compare that to new orleans. he didn't go and engage with a large crowd of people. maybe his circumstances, his motive and intent was different. in terms of the explosives, i would add to what tom mentioned. this was not a pipe bomb that you would see put in the cyber truck. if he's a special forces operations sergeant, he would know how to make explosive devices. it's curious when you look at this case now, knowing that evidence, he would be much more trained than the individual in the new orleans attack to actually set up an explosive device. special forces soldiers are well versed in that and know how to do that. he didn't do that. he used a combination of fire fireworks and gasoline to create

a flammable situation. he didn't create a mass casualty ied type event. if you're familiar with vehicle borne ieds, that's not the case. the knowledge that's out there, as tom mentioned, 10, 15 years ago you had isis realizing the power of the internet to inspire people to do attacks. they would put out recipes for making explosives and instructions on making devices. that information has been out there for sometime. we haven't seen a spate of attacks like that. we've had two explosions in the last day. the one that sticks with us and the ied in new orleans is similar to what we've seen in belgium or france, which were isis fighters, other fighters

trying to conduct these attacks, inspired individuals trying to copy these attacks. the biggest concern now is isis which had lost its momentum internationally do inspired attacks like this and start to gain momentum and create another round of international terrorism which we haven't had much until this recent attacks. >> clint watts, thank you. up next, the attacker in new orleans has been confirmed by president biden in the last hour, appears to have been inspired by the islamic state terrorist group. we'll be joined by homeland security alejandro mayorkas after this. ro mayorkas after this morning. we just wait till we get to the school. so...yeah. right now here in america, millions of kids like victoria and andre live with hunger,

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that's my line! booking.com booking.yeah people in new orleans are sending an unmistakable message. they will not let this attack or attackers with this deluded ideology overcome us. we'll continue to relentlessly pursue isis and other terrorist organizations. they'll find no safe harbor here. >> that was president biden this afternoon at the white house on the attack in new orleans vowing to continue the fight against isis. joining us now secretary for the department of homeland security alejandro mayorkas. tom winter is still here. secretary, thank you for taking the time to be with us.

talk about what federal officials are doing on the ground in new orleans right now. >> thank you very much for having me. first and foremost, our hearts break for the families, the loved ones of the individuals who lost their lives yesterday on new year's day in the tragic terrorist act. we in the federal government in partnership with state and local authorities continue to investigate that terrorist attack in new orleans and the explosion in las vegas, nevada. as the federal bureau of investigation has stated unequivocally, these individuals, there's no evidence they acted in concert with one another. there's no evidence of a linkage. we're in the preliminary stage of the investigation. both individuals were u.s.-born citizens. the individual in new orleans appears to have acted alone and not in concert with anyone else.

we continue to investigate both incidents. >> secretary, there are a number of big national events coming up. you have former president carter's funeral, congress being sworn in tomorrow, a presidential inauguration a couple weeks away. what guidance is dhs offering state and local law enforcement to prepare? is it being updated in light of the attack in new orleans? >> so the three events you mentioned, the certification of the election on january 6th, the state funeral of former president jimmy carter on january 9th, the inauguration of president-elect donald trump on january 20th, all three of them are special national security events. we have very well established, very well defined safety and security protocols for each such event. we in the federal government are the lead coordinators of each of

those events working very closely with state and local officials. we're confident in the safety and security of those events and the people who will attend them. i should say that the individual, the u.s. citizen who perpetrated the horrific attack in new orleans yesterday, has claimed allegiance to isis. it is isis' goal to instill fear in people, and we will not allow that to occur. we will not allow that to succeed. the homeland security message to the american people is do not live in fear. the american way of life will and always will prevail. we will continue to enjoy our iconic events. we will continue to flourish in our democracy and terrorism will be beaten down and we have incredibly brave men and women throughout the federal and

national enterprise and international domain to make sure that is so. >> secretary mayorkas, tom winter has a question for you. >> i'm thinking about the establishment of the department of homeland security after 9/11. there was the legal statute and framework for it and there was a spirit to it that cities and states need to be prepared for terrorism. i look at what happened in new orleans on new year's day. i know the products that the department of homeland security puts out, best practices to stop these events. you have one police car blocking the street. you have a sidewalk wide open. i know things that are done in cities where large pieces of concrete are put on the sidewalks. are you disappointed in what you saw in new orleans new year's day? >> we have a tremendous amount of confidence in our state and local partners. i won't speak to a particular scene that is under

investigation now. we have incredibly brave men and women who risk their lives every day for the safety and security of others. we're proud to work alongside them and we distribute grant funds tomet areas, urban areas, resources they need to build the infrastructure to ensure the safety and security of their residents. we distribute best practices to state and local law enforcement so that they can enhance the security of events. we have done so in the past. we did so in response to international events of recent history and we'll continue to do so. we intend to distribute materials as soon as tomorrow. we held a very important call yesterday with state and local law enforcement.

we'll do so again. we work in close partnership with municipalities all across the country. >> secretary, that so much for taking time to be with us today. we'll turn to capitol hill where the republican speaker of the house is fighting to hold on to the gavel. he's got some support from donald trump. we'll get a live report as congress readies for that big day tomorrow.

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a new congress will be sworn in tomorrow, but whether they can get anything done under republican leadership remains an open question. that's because the chamber cannot operate until they pick a speaker. as of right now it's unclear if mike johnson has the votes necessary to remain in the job tomorrow thanks to the slimmest margin the republicans hold. president-elect trump gave johnson his total endorsement. johnson can only lose two republican votes. congressman thomas massey has declared himself a no. let's bring in garrett haake and with me at the table basil smikle. garrett, tell me where things stand. >> reporter: i feel like i was just standing in this hall way talking about kevin mccarthy

facing this problem. mike johnson has been holding meetings with conservative members down the hall at his office all afternoon. those coming out said they've made progress on things like structural changes they want to see in place. they want to see him try to continue to work with just republicans, not have to have democrats bail out the republicans in the house on key legislation like they did last year. the challenge for johnson is that that's going to require a unity among republicans that hasn't existed in the last two years. johnson's been making the case that republicans have an historic opportunity now. they'll control the house, senate and white house. they have to move quickly if they want to get anything done. that will involve, he argues, electing him tomorrow. you pointed out the math. thomas massey is already a no vote. if he gets another no vote,

another republican that says another name, that's it. that's the ball game. he can't get there. you've got perhaps half a dozen, maybe more undecided membermemb. folks coming out are keeping their cards close to their vest. they may be true even tomorrow. a lot of horse trading i expect. >> talk about the horse trading. what are the other names bandied about? >> reporter: the other names of potential hold-outs are rob normal from south carolina, chip roy, victoria sparks said she doesn't trust mike johnson. it's hard to see how they find their way to yes now except for these caveats. it's not clear there's anyone else who can get to 218 votes.

sparks' comments aside, he doesn't have the level of -- kevin mccarthy had. mccarthy had too many broken promises. although there's some of that with mike johnson, there's an understanding of the bad hand he was dealt taking over with a small majority and a willingness to give him a little more space. there's going to be that effort to extract many promises from him. >> incoming president trump saying he would be willing to make calls on johnson's behalf. why is his total endorsement not carrying johnson over the finish line? >> reporter: we saw that during the debate of government funding when president-elect trump talked about that spending bill and he still lost votes after

that. these republicans as closely as they are tied to trump, they don't necessarily trust trump's read on the house as well as they trust their own. for someone like thomas massey, again, the only hard no we have on johnson, he has said he loves trump. he thinks trump will be a great president, but he doesn't think johnson's strategy of going with whatever trump says will work. he said he doesn't think johnson will tell trump the truth of what they can or can't do. trump's endorsement is necessary, but not sufficient in and of itself to get anybody over the finish line. >> i'm trying to square the math here. if what they want is -- part of the critique of johnson is we want to be able to go it alone, that's really hard to do with this slim of a majority. >> yeah, and it's interesting based on garrett's reporting that people in washington

measure their success not by the number of friends they have, but by the number of enemies they don't have. that's where the math sort of makes sense. johnson may become speaker because he doesn't have as many enemies as anybody else. i'm surprised -- not surprised actually, that the trump endorsement may not weigh as heavily as some may think. when you assess it, even though individual members may side with donald trump as a body -- i said this about the senate -- they don't want to be undermined. that's what some of the members that may be responding against johnson are thinking about. they may align themselves with trump in some instances, but they want input on legislation. that's the -- that's some of the pushback that johnson is getting. they want the rank and file to have a say in what's happening. >> we want to do our jobs, act like a branch of a government -- >> allegedly.

>> garrett haake, thank you so much for bringing you your reporting. we'll be watching all the capitol hill action tomorrow. we'll rely on you to break it down. we'll sneak in a quick break and be right back. in a quick brk and be right back. c,mon bo! this is a before picture of bogart. such a big boy. pre-portioned packs makes it really easy to keep him lean and healthy. and look at him now. he's like a show dog. [silence] bogue, can you give daddy a break here? he's having a hard enough time.

today after most puerto ricans range in the new year in darkness, a sweeping blackout left more than a million people without power, power is back up. will luma energy warned its customers

they could see temporary outages in the coming days. authorities are investigating the cause of the outage. luma said there was a failure to an underground electric line. the governor warned residents to conserve their energy. coming up next, the tragedy in new orleans and what president-elect trump has had to say about it. much more ahead. don't go anywhere. don't go anywhere. to help us grow strong? what if all of our friends and neighbors had fresh food too, and there was no hunger at all in america? and what if there was a way today for you to help? call now or go online to helpfeedingamerica.org and give $19 a month, just $0.63 a day. so many of us don't have enough food to eat,

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i am alisa menendez in for nicolle wallace and it is 5:00 here in new york. we will see president joe biden

award 20 individuals the nation's second highest civilian medal. the presidential citizens medal. they recognize americans for exemplary deeds of service for their country or fellow citizens. among the recipients, representatives liz cheney and bennie thompson for their work as chair and vice chair of the january 6th select committee, investigating the attack on the u.s. capitol the new york times reports, quote, the selection of ms. cheney, wyoming republican whose vocal opposition to donald j. trump cost her political career was a continuation of his push for bipartisanship and decency in politics at a time when ms. cheney's own party turned against her. mr. biden has said to have been considering a preemptive pardon to protect her from retribution of the next administration. we will bring you the president's remarks honoring her service and we start this hour with the latest developments out of new orleans, which just last hour saw the kickoff of the sugar bowl, the college football

playoff game. it was postponed following the deadly terror attack on bourbon street. 13 were killed and dozens more were injured when a man ramped up pickup truck into a crowd of people celebrating the new year. today, an update on the attack. law enforcement says the man, shamsud-din jabbar, did act alone. that is a reversal from their assessment yesterday. they say he was 100% inspired by i.s.i.s. the flag was done in the back of the truck he drove come along with explosive device. the director of the fbi counterterrorism division, christopher wray, is saying the attacker posted a series of videos online shortly before the attack. >> jabbar explains he originally planned to harm his family and friends, but was concerned the news headlines would not focus on the, quote, war between the believers and the disbelievers, end quote. additionally, he stated he had joined i.s.i.s. before this summer. he also provided a will and

testimony. >> the fbi says they are digging deeper into jabbar's path to radicalization. nbc news knows this is the first lethal assault by someone connected to or acting in the name of i.s.i.s. on u.s. soil since 2017. colin clark of a group that focuses on global security told them, new orleans attack simply confirms what many of the counterterrorism community have been saying for the past year. i.s.i.s. remains a stubborn and consistent threat and one which is simply is not going to fade away. the national security picture here in the united states following yesterday's terror attack is where we begin this hour with former senior fbi official and former senior director for counterterrorism at the national security council, lee, and an expert and direct deposit recovery for the u.s. government, christopher old erie. it is good to see you both. explain to us what local law enforcement, what federal law

enforcement, are likely doing. what are they investigating? >> thank you for having me. nice to be with my good friend, chris o'leary. based on what is happening in the course of the ongoing investigation, they are trying to drill deeper into some of the perspectives that we have heard already from the fbi briefing in the afternoon. how did jabbar get radicalized? this process of someone who was looked at it extensively in my career and on the academic side. it never happens quickly. it is usually pretty gradual, months, if not years and i suspect we will learn that is what occurred with jabbar and once we shift out of the phase of trying to understand how he became radicalized and why, then all the steps he took to put the attack plan in place, which was apparently more than just the vehicle because the moment he got out of the car,

after he had killed 14 people and injured dozens, he was ready to keep fighting. he was armed with weapons and he had improvised explosive devices and i hate to say this, but it is actually lucky that he did not do more damage and i think that gets into their mind- set. he was intent on committing as much destruction and damage as he could. >> christopher, we have a quote from one of her colleagues talk about the persistent i.s.i.s. threat. the recent fall of the assad regime is actually complicating that threat. >> it certainly has complicated it, but on the edge to what is a real challenge for national security professionals. the threat of global jihadists is not abating. so, colin and myself, and javed ali and i have talked about this. the global jihadist threat was a few hundred individuals before september 11th. it is tens of thousands of global jihadists now across

two dozen countries. the strength of the ideology persists and yet we, as a country, have pivoted away from counterterrorism operations and really sent most of our resources to great power competition against china and russia and other near peer adversaries. what will happen unless we come up with a focused and sustainable counterterrorism program is we will see more of these attacks. >> one of the things, javed, about a counterterrorism program is it has to focus on domestic terrorism and as we spoke about nearly 24 hours ago, it takes many forms. it is a complicated question. what would reforming the system to actually meet the moment look like? >> that is a great question and this is something the trump administration coming in on january 20th is going to have to look at. what currently is it optimized the right way to deal with these issues of either

jihadists and extremism with attacks being the latest manifestation of that, or far- right types or strands of extremism and white supremacy and neo-nazi and anti- government and on and on and on. there might be changes from how our government is organized or structured. they might have to have changes with respect to legal and policy authorities. they may have to have new partnerships developed between the government and all these other stakeholders. the state and local government and the private sector and technology companies, these are all things people like chris and myself have been talking for years about. you cannot wait for something terrible to happen to realize we have to make changes. we should be a little more

proactive about this. hopefully, again, in the aftermath of what happened in new orleans, maybe there will be a recognition that we need to do more and we can do better and we need to prevent these types of attacks from happening, but the precise aspects of change are not clear yet. not until president-elect donald trump comes into office. >> chris, javed named a good point, which means we are in a change of leadership. they want the national security pics to be confirmed as soon as possible in the wake of these attacks. i do not necessarily want you, chris, to feel the need to comment on that so much as as they go through his confirmation hearings, and might of what has happened, what are the new questions that need to be prioritized in those confirmation hearings as it relates to keeping the home and safe? >> two things. number one, somebody who is going to focus on counterterrorism and the transnational/international threat that will also bring all synchronized approach to get after the problem. we have an immense amount of

resources, but there has not really been a dedicated synchronized effort to really drive down terrorism and the grievances that drive it on the global stage and we have primarily used tactical hard power to try to beat back the enemy and that really only has a limited effect. we need a more comprehensive, holistic approach to driving down the theaters and the drivers into what makes somebody radicalized. that is on the global stage. on the domestic stage, i would say looking at the polarization in u.s. society, yes, we have at an emergence of a radical far-right, but i think we will also see the emergence, maybe slower, of some groups on the far left. we have a deep history of violent political, you know, activity by leftist groups in the united states and in response to the reemergence of the trump administration, we could see people who are

frustrated or have a grievance move to more political violence as an outlet. >> i would like you to weigh in on the same question, javed, how you articulate that, how you get to the answer from some of these nominees. also want to talk about the fact in addition to what we are watching out of new orleans, we are tracing what is happening out of las vegas. i think that is setting the contours of this entire conversation. you have law enforcement saying they see no connection and have not been able to substantiate a connection between those two events. what is it you are watching for? >> picking up the first question, some of chris' point of what to look for in some of his confirmation hearings or sort of the statements coming out from the people that are going to go up, whether it is the person who is the nominee for the secretary of defense or the director of fbi or the director of national intelligence or the cia or head of the national character some center, which is not as well-

known a position and a few others, they need to lay out their vision to not only the senate, but to the american public and what, if anything, needs to change with respect to how those departments and agencies are confronting the terrorism issues that chris laid out. it will be fascinating to see if we get any insights on what that sounds like or looks like. on the second question, i know a lot of people want to make these connections between what happened in las vegas and houston, but it is still not clear if it is just coincidences, if there is an overt connection and the fbi said in a press conference that there was not a connection. i think we will have to wait and see how the fax continue to play out. >> it is also a reminder of the information environment, chris, in which this is all unfolding and the way it can implicate the role of intelligence and law enforcement in getting their job done.

i want to read you, chris, a bit more from nbc's reporting. they have a bond technicians recovering two ieds in coolers in new orleans, one from the cross-section of bourbon in orland street and the other at an intersection a couple blocks away. variable to obtain surveillance footage showing jabbar placing the devices where they were found. they are having found these devices. what does that signal to you? >> well, they will have to find out if there was actually functional energetic material. they have improvised explosive devices. did this individual have the technical skill to actually compose functional devices and did he have real energetic material within them that would have done harm? that remains to be seen. if he did, then it leads me to start questioning did he have any additional help or guidance? did he have any real connectivity to somebody from i.s.i.s. overseas? so, if you look to the boston

bombing, when we found those devices, we actually quickly surmised that there was likely some guidance and direction and training because those devices were extremely similar to devices we have recovered in afghanistan. so, the bond technicians and the explosives unit at the fbi laboratory will be picking all of that apart. that is number one. number two, you know, was the intent -- it demonstrates he was following, you know, i.s.i.s.' ideology of this approach to creating mass casualties, willing to kill the nonbelievers, but also if there are any innocent muslims who are perceived as heretics to them because they are hanging out on bourbon street, that, you know, they were fair to be killed as well. really demonstrative of him carrying out i.s.i.s.'

really violent ideology that we should be concerned about. >> i was struck by the timeline that is emerging here. the fact you allegedly, javed -- he says he pledges allegiance to i.s.i.s. the summer and then we see this attack on new year's day. how unusual is a timeline like that? >> that timeline seems to be relatively typical to the other types of home grown jihadist cases that have been all too frequent for the past 20 plus years after 9/11 and as i said a bit earlier in the segment today, usually it takes a fairly long period of time for someone to actually get radicalized, to believe in these ideas, whether they are from al-qaeda or i.s.i.s. or other jihadist groups. then that timeline can shorten once someone believes in the idea and they truly embrace it and they are willing to not

only kill others, but perhaps even kill themselves. then the timeline can shorten and what we would then call the mobilization to violence phase. that is where they accelerated it a bit, but this tack -- attack took careful planning and it was deliberate and methodical. i do not think jabbar did it over the last two days before new year's day or early in the morning on new year's day and he was intent, not only on killing everyone in front of him or around them, but also himself. it does not look like there was an exit plan or a plan to escape. he could have just driven a car down bourbon street and taken off but he chose not to do that. i think that gets into the mind- set of how deep his radicalization was. >> course, you talked about the bomb specialists looking at what they were able to infer. they are also looking at communication. we know they have been at the suspect's home and there are number of devices that were left in new orleans itself.

what is it that investigators are looking for on those devices? what will give them the greatest insight into how this all transpired? >> a couple things. number one, they look at any communications with any other individuals or if he was on any chat rooms or platforms that might have aided to his radicalization. but they will also look at any materials that he might have been consuming, that was sent to him were directed to him. was he reading a person who was really the father of modern global jihadist him -- jihadist thought, and he was a cleric from syria. that is what most of these folks consume. was he reading other famous individuals, others who really championed this global jihadist mind-set? those are things that -- did somebody send him that

information? really, that connectivity to either deliberately to i.s.i.s. or to just a group of individuals that might have helped radicalized him? >> lots of questions remain unanswered, even as we have new details coming into view. javed ali, christopher o'leary, thank you for starting us off. will return, the political attack to new orleans and explosion in las vegas. president-elect donald trump doubling down about false claims of immigration. that conversation is ahead. we watch where president joe biden is awarding the second highest civilian metal in united states to come among others, the chair and vice chair of the january 6th select committee. liz cheney and thompson. we have more continuing after a quick break. stay with us. stay with us.

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in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy like the terror attack in new orleans, american should be able to look to lawmakers and the oncoming president for a reliable information. but hours after a man plowed through crowds on bourbon street with a pickup truck, president-elect donald trump took to truth social to blame president joe biden's border policy. the issue is authorities have identified the assailant as a texas born citizen who served in u.s. military. even after the suspect, even after the suspect was identified as a u.s. citizen, trump continue to post online, railing against the, quote, open border. as the chain of disinformation goes, republicans began parroting president-elect donald trump's claims on fox

news. here is speaker mike johnson this morning. >> the congressional republicans, we here in the house and the senate, have repeatedly asked the dhs under the biden administration about the correlation, the obvious concern about terrorism and the wide open border. >> joining our conversation, former top official of the department of justice and msnbc legal analyst andrew weissmann and also special correspondent for vanity fair and host of the fast politics podcasts . all right, here is the thing. the president's job is to offer comfort and to offer clarity and especially in moments of potential terrorism, where terrorism only succeeds if we feel terrorized, to actually add to that, to fan the flames, is moving in the wrong direction. >> it absolutely is. clarity is very important because it is easy for people to, you know, moved to their own opinions and frustrations very quickly. when you show leadership, he is

not just a symbol of the country, but of the rest of the world. so, the comments he is making are not just to american citizens. it is to the rest of the world. the media reaction, to say close our borders, this is -- blaming immigration and so on, it really does add fuel to the fire. texas born u.s. citizen. that is important because it suggests this goes back to the conversation we just had. anyone can be radicalized. if you take that seriously and you understand what has to go into it from both the law enforcement standpoint and from the president of united states, you take your job seriously and you do not do something like you do in the first few days of the first presidency, which is called for muslim ban and close the airports to those from certain countries, right? that kind of chaos and crisis is not what you want. you want more clarity. >> i want you to listen to something that jim hines had to

say. take a listen. >> right now, or tickly from leaders, when people are dead, when families have yet to be informed, this is a pretty good time for leaders, including the president-elect to be pretty prudent about what sort of information they are amplifying on social media because this has given rise to an appalling cloud of misinformation, all of which is driven by many of my colleagues mother desire to promote their own political beliefs using this tragic killing of innocent people. >> i mean, i would add that the reason there is not the money for the border, if we will talk about -- because trump wanted and people focus on the border, it is because there was a border bill negotiated by james lankford, right? republican james lankford. trump told his people not to, you know, he wanted to run on the border, so i am just saying if -- you know, you have a political idea here that is in fact -- he was the reason it

did not pass, but, yes, obviously i think jeremiah has a good point. look, we are in a moment where there is not a lot of fact checking happening on social media, so the tech companies are not doing it, right? there is a world. there is an alternative reality where tech companies -- i hate to say this, but community notes -- x users can note things that are incorrect and that is sort of the closest we have, but techmpanies could have fact checking. they could be as rigorous as newspapers and that would be humongous for all of us. >> yet, here we are with an incoming president who likes to play two truths and a lie on the national stage instead of focusing on the facts. talk about the national security perspective how that actually complicates the rule of investigators in the early stages of what is already a

complex investigation. >> yeah, that is exactly how i was thinking about this in terms of when i was in the intelligence community. so, facts should matter. it is an obvious point and it does not help when you have the incoming president giving false information and leading to false information about the perpetrator. not only does it, as you point out, does it foment violence with respect to people who are completely blameless and innocent because this was not a foreign national who came across our borders. it is a problem of homegrown extremism, so the intelligence committee wants to make sure that the public is aware and that they are supported in looking at the

actual problem. this issue is sort of fact free zones is one that is really going to hurt us in terms of a national security apparatus and it can hurt us on the scientific front, in terms of denying the value of vaccines. facts actually help save lives. you know, here, that is the number one priority of the national security community. that is what the intelligence community focuses on and fomenting, sort of, fear and hatred with respect to people who are blameless is not a way of dealing with the issue. >> i want to clarify something here because folks are asking, how did we end up here? part of the reason you ended up with all this border talk is because you had a fox news report yesterday morning that was later retracted. the truck used in the attack

had across the u.s./mexico border. again, that had been retracted. it shows misinformation is out there and if it does make it becomes difficult to reel it back in. now with the national security advisor he is saying. this is mike waltz and what he had to say about the attack this morning. take a listen. >> i cannot emphasize enough, close the border. secure our sovereignty. you know, that is completely unacceptable. the entire world knows that we have an open border and they intend to hit us and they are pushing people into our interior to do just that. >> we might need to adapt you for the president of the united states, who will take the podium. as we wait for him, what moments do we find ourselves in? >> they say the means justify the end. they want a policy where they are excluding everybody and pushing people out, so let's use this opportunity to do

that. that is not good policy. the policy is let's take the information we have gotten and let's find a path forward for the country. clearly, they are not interested in doing that. >> president joe biden is at the podium in the east room of the white house, where he is honoring bennie thompson and liz cheney in 18 others with the citizens medal of honor. >> paraphrasing -- i quote, grave perils are yet to be encountered. in the stormy course of the republic. there is no reason, no reason, we should fear them or doubt our capacity to overcome them. we should endeavor to live, so to deserve the high praise of being called good american citizens. that is who you all are, good american citizens. that is the story of our nation. carried forward by heart, hard work, and the american people. for those who were here before our founding, those born

generations later, who immigrated here seeking the blessings of america, it is a story of yet another great president i miss, jimmy carter. may we all strive to measure up to his highest standard of active citizenship in our time. and to a higher standard set by women and men we celebrate here today. you know, for the final time as president, i have the privilege to restore the presidential citizens medal. one of our imaginations highest honors, an extraordinary, naming extraordinary, group of americans. the citizens medal recognizes, quote, citizens of united states of america who performed exemplary deeds of service to their country and to the fellow citizens. over 50 years, presidents of both parties have awarded this metal to americans who have met that high calling. diplomats and doctors. conservation a list.

community and organizers. philanthropists. faith leaders. i am honored to present law enforcement officers who defended our capital on january 6th and the state and local leader officials who defended the free and fair election of 1920. today, we celebrate a new group of americans dedicating their careers to serving our democracy and other essential ways. some of you, i have known and worked for for a long time. others i have admired her character from afar. i mean this sincerely. you're all incredible. incredible. your activist. you turn pain into purpose. you forced open the doors of equality and justice. attorneys, you changed not just the laws, but society and brought america closer to our highest stated ideals. you're all elected officials

who served in difficult times with honor, decency, and insured our democracy delivers. storytellers who have shown light in darkness and educators, educators who have kindled new flames of imagination. you are veterans. veterans who have revolutionized trauma care, recognition for women and build new foundations for peace. together, you have, from the bottom of my heart, brought essential truth. we are a great nation. we are great because we are good people. we are good people. i have said it before. our democracy begins and will be preserved in the habits of our heart and our character. optimism -- the testament indoors and our courage digs

deep, real deep when we need it as a nation. our empathy that fuels our willingness to see each other not as enemies, but as fellow americans. i think it is pretty simple. our democracy begins and ends with the duties of citizenship. that is our work for the ages. that is what all of you, and i mean this, all of you have brought me. it is now my honor to award the presidential citizens medal. as the military aid -- as i welcome them onto the stage and they receive the medal. thank you for being here and thank you to all the families because all these awards are being given today that are no small part because of all the support you gave them. thank you. thank you.

>> the presidential citizens medal recipients, mary elba and otto for securing the right of every american to marry whom they love. bill bradley, for bringing the values of the game to a life of public service. .

frank a butler junior for transferring battlefield trauma care for the u.s. military and saving countless lives around the world. elizabeth l cheney for putting american people over party. .

>> we are watching president joe biden at the white house, awarding the nation's second highest civilian honor. a lot of folks i want to talk about, who are receiving these awards. let's start with the decision to award this to liz cheney and

thompson. >> liz cheney has lost, she lost her leadership position. she lost her congressional seat. she lost her place in the republican party. she really did put what she thought was the right thing above everything else and i do think that is really a meaningful honor and, obviously, she and thompson did a remarkable job as leading the committee and i think that it was the right thing to do, to give them those honors. >> i absolutely agree and, you know, it should send a message to the rest of the country that it is important to put country over party. the people and the themes stay the same and, you know, she did something that cost her her whole job and that is her whole political standing and that is of really important decisions to make moving forward. i also want to say for bennie thompson, unflappable leadership. you will find him leading that committee -- i am on the trustee board of the fdr presidential library. in 2023 -- in 2023, we gave in

an award, the freedom for one of the four freedoms award and on that very issue, with all the threats coming at him, he was able to really sort of steadfastly do more to the committee. now three people that are getting an good today performer congressmember carolyn mccarthy. from rhode island. she was a nurse and tragically, she lost her husband, who was killed, and her son was injured on the long island railroad shooting back in 1996. and the republican member of congress at the time did not support a gun control measure. she decided she wanted to run against him and won on that issue, which is remarkable, but it also sends a message, you know, there are people who feel

compelled and called to do something because of tragedy, unfortunately, but did so she believed in it. >> that is carolyn mccarthy's daughter right there. >> it was so important to honor the issue of gun control, which we continued to talk about the girls want to call attention to lewis redding, who was a civil rights attorney, who argued a case that wound up being on the path of brown versus board of education. he was the only african american to graduated harvard law school in 1928. and finally, bill bradley. because in 1992, as a senator, he gave one of the most impassioned speeches talking about the rodney king beating on the floor of the senate and i am a college kid at that point. i have not seen that coming out of the u.s. senate and certainly did not expect it, but

in response to the beating and the upheaval of the time and the racial context that obviously was involved, he really spoke to it in a powerful, passionate way on the floor of the senate and just talking about all the other ways that he engaged race in his political career, i just needed to call that out because, again, going back to 1992, it is not something i expected, but it talked about his stance in those issues. >> a lot of tips of the hat to progress we have made, policy that the current president clearly is concerned could be rolled back. the progress that has been made in the way of marriage equality. as you are watching all of this unfold at the white house, what stands out to you? >> i think it is impossible not to be uplifted by it and optimistic because of the wide array of people who are being honored for an incredible amount of service to this country. at the same time, you know,

focusing on liz cheney and others, it is also sort of a call to make sure that you do your duty and that you speak truth to power and you are steadfast. that award to thompson and cheney are tata examples of that that are a recognition of what is -- what they have done, but also sort of a reminder of what many people are going to be called on in terms of what is necessary in the next four years. very much what we were talking about, making sure that facts still matter and that -- when you see things that are incorrect, you speak up. if they violate your own beliefs.

>> i want to watch this moment, this video, and see it as a turning point, and in the fact that you have liz cheney and bennie thompson both being honored by the president of the united states for the second highest civilian honor, the fact the entire room stands up to applaud what they have done because we understand -- the folks in that room understand the precipice we find ourselves on. >> and i also think that we are seeing how much one person doing the right thing can be meaningful and that is something, it is a lesson throughout history of just doing the right thing. being brave when we do not necessarily want to be. i do not think that way liz cheney went to government, running for congress, she thought she would be on a panel with a bunch of democrats, right, or giving up any -- everything for it. i do think it really shows the

power of the individual and how all of us have the opportunity to do the right thing. >> that celebration of our fellow citizens. no one is going anywhere. we need to fit in a short break. we have one more honoree coming up to the stage. we will make sure that we stay with it. they will greet the president of the united states. we will be right back. (vo) explore the world the viking way from the quiet comfort of elegant small ships with no children and no casinos. we actually have reinvented ocean voyages, designing all-inclusive experiences for the thinking person. viking - voted world's best by both travel + leisure and condé nast traveler.

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>> just a moment ago, president joe biden at the white house, honoring a member of the u.s. civilians, including liz cheney, bennie thompson, with the presidential citizen metal. i want to read you something, basil, from the white house. quote, president joe biden believes these americans are bonded by their common decency and commitment to service. the country is better because of their dedication and their sacrifice. tomorrow, there is a new congress being sworn in. they are in the midst of trying to find a speaker who they can't agree on on the republican side, but those

goals, getting back to the service of us all, that is why you are sent by your constituents to washington, d.c., to be of service to them. >> leadership, right? if you're not doing something on their behalf, do something to take them in the direction you want them to go in because it is good for the country and the people, even if they may not think so at the time. that is what leaders do. i do not know that there is liz cheney among this republicans coming into congress. but it will be really interesting when this vote takes place, to see what kind of congress we're going to end up dealing with for the next two years and to the extent at which democrats say they're not helping anybody and they are not going to bail johnson out. my question is, if it does not look like it will be johnson, if it is somebody worse than them, will democrats have to say, you know what, maybe we have to rethink this? i do not know we will get there, but it will be interesting to see how they -- our republicans try to govern because they cannot afford to lose any votes and they have

the slimmest, the second slimmest majority of any party in history. they are going to need democrats. we will see how they play this. >> they will have to understand some basic math, getting a threshold. >> it is a math problem for mike johnson. i mean, it is a very slim majority. what is interesting about the last congress is they were not necessarily penalized for their lack of legislation. you know, they did not lose the house, right? republicans were able to keep the house. they lost -- down a seat, but they were not necessary penalized and they had a tough time passing stuff. most things had to happen on ocr, which is something or you lose a lot of republican votes because about 30 of them will not vote for a cr. i think will be interesting to see -- look, everything johnso has passed so far has been with

the help of democrats. so, the question is, can he keep his seat without the help of democrats? i think that is a real open question. >> a quick point to that as well. you do not want to also be a democrat and then just be the thing that is stopping things from happening, right? at the same time, republicans need to go home and sell something to their constituents. democrats need to do the same thing and figure out a way. not to say they will not do this, but they will have to figure out a way that if it looks like there is going to be constant chaos on the republican side, what will democrats go back to their constituents to say this is what we have done and how we stood up for you. to your point, they were not penalized in a general way, but am not sure if that can hold in this next congress. that is why democrats will still have to find a way to be able to deliver something, even if they do not have the majority. >> i am deeply aware sometimes when we talk about something like a speaker's fight, it can sound very technocratic and bureaucratic and not connected

to lives the way i would feel like if we were talking about people choosing a captain for a football team. it is not particularly interesting. yet, to make sure i connect those dots for folds this is a person who will drive a governing agenda. the amount that congress is able to get done is tied in large part to the extent to which the party is efficient and able to work with the other party, so this is not just something happening in washington, d.c. this is something that is happening to all of us. the disarray has consequences. >> absolutely. i keeping my eye out for is one of the things that congress traditionally can do is it is a check on the executive branch. it provides oversight. we talked about the

issues. you know, the secular branch, i have been a part of that executive branch, they may not like it, but there is a responsibility to have oversight and for the circuit of branch to report. it remains to much congress is going to matter, whether the branch is going to do things as much as they can without legislation and idea of oversight, to extend there is an effort making more in the senate, in the house, to engage in that oversight. quite a lot of difficulty in terms of congressional oversight, but i suspect that is going to be even harder going forward. >> i was so nervous about asking your political question because i know that is ordinarily not your lane and

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thank you for spending part of your thursday with us. and "the beat with ari melber" goes on right now. >> good to see you. >> you, too, ari. >> and we will see you later on "the beat." thank you, alicia melendez, and a lot going on here, and a big show planned and we have interesting things going on across the hour.